"Credit Card Services" robocalls

[teflon6string]

Maybe you're getting them too? Automated phone calls from a company with no name, starting with "There is nothing presently wrong with your account..."

Once a week used to be irritating, but I'm getting 9-10 a week now, all hours. At my age, I wake up enough at night. I don't need a random dialer adding to that.

Extra aggravating if you stay on long enough to chew someone's *ss and demand that they remove your number from their list - they hang up. Soulless b*stards!

Anyhow, if you're getting the same BS, try this:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/

The Federal Trade Commission is trying to stop robo calls (automated recorded messages on your phone) because they are illegal. And especially irritating if you've been diligent, as I have been, about updating your numbers on the donotcall.gov site. Maybe if enough consumers weigh in, the FTC can prioritize going after the company(ies) doing this.

If you're not getting robo calls, consider yourself fortunate.

Read More

 

[xd45acp]

I get calls from 877/501/301 area codes a couple of times a week, if it's not local I don't answer.

 

[slimmer13]

Sometimes if I am bored I will stay on the line and mess with them. Maybe I will say "yes I am extremely interested in lowering interest rates" and then fart by the phone or pretend to be retarded (not too much of a stretch). When I sense that they have just about had enough then I tell them to do the world a favor and jump in front of a train and hang up.

 

[sixfoot674]

on my business phone i get an average of 20 calls per day, half those end up being telemarketing calls. aggravating as it is ive tried what i thought was everything in my power to make them stop. the phone company told me that because my shop phone was public domain basiclly i would just have to put up with it. thanx teflon for the link. im going to give it a try

 

[deen_ad]

I'm being harassed by the same outfit as well as one called "Atlas Recovery". The Atlas one is actually after my son but they continue to call me even after I told them he doesn't live here and they can't contact him through me. I've filed a complaint with the WA AG's office but I'm still getting the calls (and I told them not to call me again too).

BTW: you can type the phone number into Google and find websites that list that number and who owns it. Collect the info and file a complaint with the AG's office and the FTC. Eventually they will go after the outfit, but it'll take a while.

 

[jbett98]

If you suspect the incoming call is from one of those robo-dialers, answer with "FBI, consumer fraud division, agent Jones speaking".
That might slow them down.

 

[teflon6string]

I played guitar accross the river in a Vancouver WA band for awhile, and always wondered why the singer's answering machine started with that irritating 3-tone electronic noise you get when you dial a bad number... "The number you have reached has been disconnected and is no longer in service"... etc. After the tones, his outgoing message was the usual family greeting most people use.

He explained that robo-calls in Vancouver were constant and relentless, so he recorded that horrible 3-tone noise to put in front of his own greeting. According to him, if an autodialer detects that signal, it deletes his number as invalid. His family never answers live, and they only pick up once they hear real friends who know to stay on. Resourceful solution - he says it works pretty good. But it's a d*mn shame to have that intrusion in the first place.

 

[teflon6string]

Feb 2013 Consumer Reports addresses this irritating phenomenon too. They say don't push buttons to opt out of future calls as that may cause you to get even more.

Some other fight back resources they listed:

ftc.gov

and

usa.gov/directory/stateconsumer

 

[Mikej]

Well, I stayed on the line, (some time ago), and eventually a mans voice comes on and states why their calls are NOT beholden to the donotcall.gov thing! The voice states that they are a non-profit which is EXEMPT........

Before and after that I'd waited on the line and yelled/belittled/cursed/threatened ETC several times. Eventually I pushed the number the caller says to push to have my phone number removed from their list, you know what? I haven't got a call from them since!

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I had a collection agency calling me about a credit card account that was delinquent that was owned by a person with the same name as me. I told them it wasn't me and they asked for my SSN. I said, if you know it's me then you already have my SSN. I told them it's not me and hung up. Then I researched the phone number and name of the collection agency, and sent them a letter saying that I'd researched all of my credit card accounts, and that all of them were current and in good standing. I also sent them an invoice from a company I own stating that we had been happy to help their representative "Jeff" determine that I wasn't the person they were looking for, and that my company charged $125 per hour for research, and $25 per phone call. I billed them for 2 hours of research and 1 phone call, for a total of $275. I included on the invoice a statement that billed amounts were due and payable within 30 days and that accounts 30 days overdue would be referred to a collection agency.

About 5 days after I sent the invoice I got a call from "Jeff's" supervisor wanting to know what the bill was for. I explained to him that I'd spent 2 hours researching my accounts to prove to "Jeff" that he was calling the wrong person, and I expected to be paid. I never heard from them again.